The Double Cluster in Perseus
This pretty starfield spans about three full moons (1.5 degrees)across the heroic northern constellation ofPerseus.It holds the famouspair of open star clusters,h and Chi Persei.Also cataloged asNGC 869 (top) and NGC 884,both clusters are about 7,000 light-years away andcontain stars much younger and hotter than the Sun. Separated by only a few hundred light-years, the clusters areboth 13 million years youngbased onthe ages oftheir individualstars,evidence that they were likely a product of the samestar-forming region.
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